<p>so I have never been the worlds greatest test taker, time management has been a big issue. in june I took the test and got a 21 with a 22 science 22 math and english and 20 reading. after that I took Kaplan online ACT prep and managed to get mid to high 20's on practice tests. my minimum act score I want is a 25, but I would really like 30 for a good scholarship. comming out of this september test I feel pretty good about my score. up until the last 2 passages on science I missed maybe 3-5 questions and guessed on nearly all the rest. reading I felt very good about and didnt run out of time, looking at the questions and answers people posted here I see three I got wrong, and english I feel great about finishing with 6 minutes left. and going over a few questions I marked correcting 2 of them out of 6. Oh and math just killed me after the 45th question. so is a 30 too much high hopes? 25? do I have another chance at taking the test? I can't take the October one :(</p>
<p>you cant miss more than 7 and get in the 30’s for science even with a generous curve. As for math even if you get a 27 or so that would require you to score at least 34 or higher on reading and english just to average out the other two sections to get your 30. Maybe you lucked out and did better than you thought but if you think your lowest section score is less than a 27 in anything and your highest isnt above 33 you probably wont get your 30</p>
<p>Jerminater,</p>
<p>One of the first questions I would ask is: What score do you need?</p>
<p>What’s your plan for college? Here’s a pretty good one: Find a good local state university if you have one, where you can live at home. Get a decent scholarship – aim for one that will at least pay tuition for 4 years – and with Pell Grants (assuming you need them) and living at home you can probably get through college debt free.</p>
<p>If that plan doesn’t work for any reason, find another way to get through college debt free. One way is to start at a community college for the first couple of years. Whether you take this approach or not, I recommend the book Debt-Free U. </p>
<p>Now. Having said all that: I’ll bet with about a 28 or so you could get a pretty good scholarship at a pretty good school. Full tuition for 4 years, maybe. </p>
<p>A second question is: How bad do you want it? How much time and effort are you prepared to put in to improve your scores? </p>
<p>A third question is: How much time do you have? If you’re a junior, then you obviously have more time. Even if you’re a senior, you’ve got months – if you use every day right. </p>
<p>Next thing: Find and use the best strategies you can. I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that Kaplan’s materials probably aren’t the best available for improving ACT scores. Some I’ve heard of that seem good would be: The Real ACT (for actual tests), Boost Your Score, Princeton Review’s materials, and (for when you master the basics and get more advanced) Barron’s ACT 36. </p>
<p>Next thing: Don’t let anybody hold you back. Don’t let someone else tell you what you can’t do. Why are you here asking whether it’s possible? How many hours do you have between now and next June? If you have 2 hours a day – actually you could add another 5 each Saturday – you have anywhere up to 500 or more hours that are possible. Most of the big courses out there involve 30 to 50 hours. </p>
<p>There’s a thread here of someone who supposedly brought their ACT from 22 up to a 34+. I’ve read of someone else who supposedly brought his or her score up from 28 to 35. That’s 7 points. </p>
<p>You know you have a time management issue. That’s an obvious area for improvement. </p>
<p>If you get your scores up from 21 to 28, I think you’re in some solid scholarship territory, particularly if you also have decent grades. </p>
<p>I can’t guarantee you can hit a particular goal. I can tell you this, though: An awful lot is possible if you’re committed enough. And it’s not like a game where only one person wins, and if you don’t hold the one winning ticket, it’s a loss. There are multiple levels of prizes along the way. Generally, the more you improve your scores, the greater your options.</p>
<p>I look forward to see where you go from here, and wish you the best of success.</p>
<p>Oh – one final note.</p>
<p>From 22 to 34 is a bigger spread than 21 to 30. So no, I don’t think it’s impossible.</p>
<p>It’s not impossible. My very first ACT score was a 23. The next one I scored 26, then 28, and finally the one in september i got a 30. I’m still hungry and not satisfied with 30, so I’ll be retaking mine in October to achieve my goal of getting a 33-34 at least 
Good luck!</p>